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Tero Pitkämäki
* 19 December 1982 Ilmajoki
Present residence: Ilmajoki
195 cm, 94 kg
Club: Seinäjoen seudun Urheilijat
Coach: Hannu Kangas
Event: Javelin throw
Tero Pitkämäki has already left marks to last long in Finnish athletics history. He has won seven Olympic, world
or European championship medals, more than any other Finnish javelin thrower. His gold medal at the World
Championships of 2007 in Osaka earned him the European Athlete of the Year award. In Finland he has been voted
Athlete of the Year three times (2007, 2013 and 2015), more often than any other track and field athlete. In 2016
Tero aims to crown his career with success at his fourth Olympic Games –also a record for Finnish javelin throwers.
Tero holds a degree in electric engineering. His wife Niina Kelo is a former heptathlete who also competed at the
Olympic Games in Beijing.
PREVIOUS OLYMPIC GAMES:
2004 8th.
2008 bronze.
2012 5th.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS:
2003 EurU23Ch bronze.
2005 WCh 4th.
2006 EurCh silver.
2007 WCh gold.
2009 WCh 5th.
2010 EurCh bronze.
2011 WCh 17th.
2012 EurCh 11th.
2013 WCh silver.
2014 EurCh bronze.
2015 WCh bronze.
2016 EurCh 14th.
PERSONAL BEST:
91.53 (2005)